Sunday, August 06, 2017

Thankfully, I didn't suffer many after effects from last week's 20k run. I could vaguely feel my knee the next day, but more tight than painful. Otherwise I was a just a bit tired.

I did an easy 5k on Tues. and an easy 7k on Thurs. to make sure I allowed for recovery. No hard intervals this week.

I wasn't sure how far I'd go this Sunday. Maybe just the 11k loop? Or maybe 15k? Or something in between? But when the time came, I felt good, and it was a beautiful sunny day without being too hot. I reached the decision point and didn't even really think about it, I just kept going on the longer 18k loop. And then when I was on the last section I figured I might as well stretch it out to 20k again.

My knee started hurting at about 15k, but I knew I could tough it out for another 3k to get home so I just sped up (it bothers me less if I run fast). In the past, once it started to hurt it didn't stop, but to my surprise, this time it went away after a short time.

The trails were quiet today, probably due to the long weekend, so I had no one to chase or be chased by. But I still averaged 10.9 km/hr on the first 2/3 so I figured I could probably run fast enough on the last third to average 11 km/hr and finish in under an hour and fifty minutes. (Last week was 1:55) That went well at first and I ran at 12 km/hr for a while. But my heart rate started to climb and the last couple of kilometers it was a struggle to keep the pace up. My watch showed that I had made it to an average of 11, but presumably only just, so I had to keep my pace up to at least 11 or the average would drop below. (Not that anyone would care, but setting challenges like this for myself makes it more fun.)

I managed to stick it out and finished the 20k in an hour and 49 minutes. That's a 55 minute 10k pace which I was happy enough with, considering I've only recently been able to do longer runs. Although not so impressive when I think I'd have to keep that pace up for twice as long to do an under four hour marathon (42 km). And to think they're closing in on a two hour marathon is simply mind boggling. I'll stick to competing with myself :-)

My heart rate averaged 135 (versus 130 last week) and peaked towards the end at a relatively high 165. My first 20 minutes was around 120 and then I picked up the pace a bit and it went up to 135 and stayed around there for the first 2/3. Normally my recovery is quite fast - when I stopped for my coffee it was down around 70 after 5 minutes. But after my push at the end of the run it took quite a bit longer to drop below 100. But I kept my heart rate monitor on and twenty minutes later, sitting outside drinking a smoothie, I was under 60 and as low as 53. I had been thinking my resting pulse was around 55 but judging from that, it might be closer to 50. Either way that's in the "athlete" range of most charts. However, you have to take that with a grain of salt since there's a lot of variation from person to person.

We're heading out to Alberta to do some more paraglider training next week so I'll have a break from running. And then we're traveling for a couple of months starting at the beginning of Sept. so I won't get a chance for too many more long runs this summer. I'm glad I've had a few decent ones the last little while.

PS. I apologize for these self centered running posts. They're more of a running journal than anything. Feel free to skip.